Red Balloons
by queerelenagilbert
Summary: "No. He was not little Tom. He was Lord Voldemort, now." Response to the Weird Phobia Challenge on Megsy42's Forum.


**Timeline: Sometime during the First Wizarding War.**

* * *

><p>The man, if you could really consider him human, walked along the deserted alleyway, his wand tucked safely in his coat. Today was going to be a boring day. Nobody to torture. Nobody to kill.<p>

Tsk. Tsk. Tsk. What a waste of precious time. He brushed back a bit of the hair falling on his brow, glaring up at the harsh sunrays which rained down on him. That's when it happened.

A young boy, laughing carelessly, skipped past him. There was the familiar squeak and Tom looked up to see the sun glinting off the shiny red balloons. He froze in place, all air leaving his lungs as he stared at those bubbles of rubber. They seemed to glow, bobbing up and down, closer and closer to him. The boy turned and smiled at him, a gold teeth gleaming from inside his jaw. Tom couldn't move, couldn't think. Only remember.

_"What's your name?" they asked, shoving him to the ground. One of the younger boys laughed, while they poked him with sharp sticks._

_"What's your name, freak?"_

_"Something Marvolo. Weird kid," they laughed. He could feel anger brimming up inside him. What did he do to them?_

_Why did they only pick on him?_

_"Tommy. Little Tommy," they jeered. Their laughter rang in the air, but their voices were muffled, since his head was stuck in the huge pile of mud._

_"Look, what I have here," one boy said, taking out something from his pocket. It crackled and Tom knew it was a plastic packet. There was more muffled laughter and the sound of something snapping again and again, like an elastic band. He looked up, frowning at the elder bullies. They held together little scraps of color. He didn't understand. They didn't think they'd scare him with _those_. How useless. Maybe he had nothing to fear, after all._

_The elder one reached forward, stretched one of the blue ones and held it in front of Tom. He stared at it, wondering what on Earth he could do. Then, without a warning, the boy wrapped it around Tom's petit neck and tied the ends together, releasing the knot. The elastic snapped around his throat, trying to contract itself and digging into his skin. The air seemed to be squeezing out of him and he tried to reach for it, but one of the boys behind him held his hands together. They laughed and laughed and laughed as he choked. His face started feeling numb and his ears rung. Black spots entered his vision. _

_They laughed, blowing the other red balloons in his face. The elder one had a gold tooth, shining and the glare of it was all he saw. One of the boys asked, "Uh…Richard…maybe it's too much."_

_"Shut up, Daniel."_

_The boy named Daniel shut up and Tom was so sure he was going to die. He felt a surge of energy go through him and the elastic snapped open, scraps of it flying around. The boys cried out, startled and staggering back, but Tom could only gasp at the rush of sweet, sweet air._

Tom blinked staring at the red balloons which bobbed closer and for a second he felt like he had all those years ago, choking and crying for help, being bullied by those muggles. Helpless.

He cried out in rage, slashing the air with his wand. The little boy cried out in fear as the balloons he was holding snapped. Tom pointed his wand at him, his hand shaking with anger. A red light shot out from his wand and hit the crying boy, who crumpled to the ground, stunned. He could kill him. Two words and one movement and he'd be dead. Tom stepped closer, crushing the red scraps of elastic under his shoes, as his wand touched the boy's chest.

Yes, he could kill him. Two words. "Avada Kedavra," he murmured, and the boy slumped forward, lifeless.

Yes. He was not helpless now. He was not little Tom.

He was Lord Voldemort.

* * *

><p><strong>Written for <span>dont. you. try. to. outweird. me<span>'s The Weird Phobia Challenge over at Megsy42's Forum. The challenge demanded that I pick a number for a random phobia and a random character.**

**I got Voldemort and Globophobia (the fear of balloons). The first thought that went into my mind was quite hilarious, but I took upon the challenge to actually try and make a serious story out of it. As you can see, it's not very long. But it's my response all the same.**

**Word count: 731**


End file.
